Autovehicle and method of maintaining such vehicles in good working condition.



s. P. THOMPSON. AUTOVEHICLE AND METHOD OF MAINTAINING SUCH VEHICLES IN GOOD WORKING CONDITION.

Patented Feb. 15,1916.

2' SHEETS-SHEET 1.

APPLICATION FILED MAR 13, I911- I I l IEIII.

Irv/dew" I s; P. THOMPSON.

AUTOVEHICLE AND METHOD OF MAINTAINING SUCH VEHICLES IN GOOD WORKING CONDITION. APPLICATION FILED MAR- 13, 1911.

1,171,759. Patented Feb. 15,1916.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

Z 1 f 72821" lavikesses Flow V5022 7h) 1 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

SAMUEL P. THOMPSON, OF'LOS ANGELES, GALIFORNIA, ASSIGNOR ROBERT A. WALTON, OF LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA 'AUTOVEHICLEAND METHOD OF MAINTAINING SUCH VEHICLES IN GOOD WORKING- OF ONE-HALF TO CONDITION.

Continuation of application Serial No. 550,588, filed March 21, 1910.

Specification of Letters Patent.

1911. Serial No. 614,205.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, SAMUEL P. THOMP- SON, a citizen ofthe United States, residing at Los Angeles, in the county of Los Angeles and State of California, have invented new and useful Improvements in Autovehicles and Methods of MaintainingSuch Vehicles in Good lVorking Condition, of which the following is a specification.

This application involves the method set forth in my 'co-pending application for anticarbonizer devices for gas engines, filed March 21, 1910, Serial No. 550,588, and in that respect is a continuation of said application.

vehicles driven by internal combustion en gines, and is particularly designed for auto I cars, motor boats'and flying machines.

engines and in its application to such and to various types of auto vehicles the same general principles are employed and it Is only necessary to illustrate it as applied to ve-- hicles of one type; and illustration of the invention as applied in automobiles will be made herein.

An object of this inventionis to provide an attachment that may be readily applied to automobiles driven by internal combustion engines. as now manufactured and in use and whereby the chauffeur may easilyat minimum cost and-with slight attention employ a certain process whereby to retain the rated power of the engine, reduce the l1ab1lity of cracking cylinders caused fromoverheating, reduce thenoise and irregular running caused by carbon, eliminate back firingmanner that the This invention. is applicable to all auto caused by carbon, reduce valve grinding,

eliminate the danger of valves sticking, 'reduce the-consumption of oil and gas, eliminate shorting of plugs and inconvenience of clean1ng,reduce the liability of overheating the engine, increasethe life of the engine, reduce knocking and loosening of the bearings, eliminate the danger of setting fire to the car caused by back fire, and eliminate m1 ss1ng and skipping of the engine. This object is accomplished by providing convenient means readily attachable to the car whereby coal oil or kerosene may be used with maximum ease and in such convenient person having charge of the car driven by such engine can eliminate the deposits of carbon with practically no inconvenience, so that there can be no excuse for neglect in this particular.

A feature of this invention is the proc-' ess of eliminating the carbon deposits from internal combustion engine cylinders which consists in suddenly saturating the solid carbon deposits inside the engine cylinder with a carbon solvent by rapidly and forcibly compressing into the carbon deposits while hot successive charges of air heavily charged with a carbon solvent diffused therethrough in mist-like form and then burning the same out with a charge or charges of carbureted air comparatively poor in carbon.

The accompanying drawings illustrate the invention as applied in' an automobile engine.

Figure l is a fragmental side elevation of an automobile containing this improvement. Fig. 2 is an enlarged fragmental plan off-operative parts shown in Fig. '1. Fig. 3 is an elevation partly in section illustrating parts shown in Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is an enlarged fragmental sectional view on line 0?, Fig. 3, showing the spray nozzle in the manifold, ;a fragment of which is shown.

F igl' 5 illustrates a section on line at, Fig. 2,.

of the automatically closedspray valve. Fig. 6 is a fragmental'elevation showing another manner of arranging the spray nozzle with relation to the fuelsupply pipe.

The frame may comprise the chassis 1 of charges into the supply pipe at a point spaced a considerable distance from the englne.

A carbon. solvent tank or reservoir 10 1s fastened to the dashboard 3 by bands 11 and bolts 12 and is provided with a solvent conducting pipe 13 on the end of which 1s a spray nozzle tip 14 arranged in the space 'that depression of the foot-piece in the fuel supply pipe between the cylinder and the-inlet from the carburetor to spray liquid carbon solvent from the reservoir 10 into such space.

An automatically closed valve 15 in the pipe 13 normally closes said pipe. Upon the frame and adjacent to each other in a position where both are at the same time accessible to the operator are mounted two independent valve operating devices. These devices may be of any practical formand character. In the form shown in the drawings one of these devices comprises the bell crank 16., pivoted to the foot-board 2, and a foot-piece 17 mounted above the footboard; the bell crank being connected with the lever 18 of the automatically closing valve '15 by means of a line 19 passing over a pulley 20 between said lever and the bell crank 16 to which the line is attached, so

temporarily opens the valve.

The other valve-operating device shown comprises the throttle lever 21 and rod a journaled on the steering column b and the crank 22 fixed to the lower end of the rod and connected by the connecting rod 23 with the lever 24 of the throttle valve 9. The'foot-piece 17 and throttle lever 21 are arranged as shown so as to be simultaneously and independently controllable by the hand and foot of the'operator to simultaneously fully open the throttle valve 9 and the decarbonizing valve 15 by the driver seated on the seat 0 that is on the frame behind the steering column b.

The automatically closing decarbonizing spring cut-oii' valve 15 comprises the valve body 25, valve stopper 26 having a stem 27 a spring 28 for normally holding the stopper in closed position and the lever 18 to open the valve against the pressure of said spring 28.

In the form shown in Fig. 6, the sprayX nozzle 14- is arranged to spray up throug the carbureter 6- which is supplied with gasolene or other liquid fuel through the pipe 8 from the usual source, not shown, while air is sucked in through the usual air in- 4 let 7.

v The decarbonizing fluid 30" may be any preparation which will dissolve the carbon deposits in the engine cylinder. Common kerosene or coal oil will serve the purpose very satisfactorily. I

In practice the'reservoir 10 is preferably located at a considerable height above the spray nozzle, so that when the automatically closed valve is opened a quantity of solvent is sprayed by gravity in a fine mist into the fuel supply pipe manifoId, either directly', as in Figs. 1, 2, 3, 4'1 or indirectly through themixing chamber of the carbureter, as in Fig. 5.

The driver can keep his engine clean by making applications of the solvent from time to time while the engine is running.

In thus making. the application while the engine is running the driver will first open the throttle 9 a little to allow the engine to race'slightly and will then press down the anti-carbonizer pedal or foot-piece 17 and hold itdepressed for a few seconds until the engine seems to strangle or choke. He will then open the throttle 9 wide while the charge of solvent is still being admitted to the manifold, and will keep it open until the engine again starts firing in all cylinders; after which the engine will be allowed to race for a few seconds and the decarbon- 'izing valve will then be allowed to close.

loo

made on the road if desired while the car I is coasting by holding the clutch out; but if the cylinders have become badly carbonized, it is advisable to apply at night when the car is through service or at any time when the car is to be left standing for a.

while. In. thus applying the carbon solvent, the operator will first speed up the made while theengine is running as above;

described. there is a mufiier cut-out or the car it is best to keep it open while the charge is being applied to the running engine.

It is understood that engines may be originally constructed with a view to embody this improvement and that the ordi-- nary automobile equipment may be remodeled to carry out this invention by adding accessories consisting of the reservolr, tubing, spring, valve, spray nozzle and foot.

pedal.

The spray nozzle may be applied as shown in Fig. 4 by tapping the manifold with a hole 31 at one side to fit the nozzle cylinder 32 and to allow the tip l l to project into the manifold. Said tip is a finely perforated hollow cone the perforations of which are through the sides and apex of the cone so .that in operation the liquid solvent-is projected in a fine mist directly into the manifold between the carbureter and the engine so as to pass into the engine cylinders as a fine mist to cover all partsinside the cylinder with the solvent whenever the section of the engine piston is operative while the solvent valve 15 is open. At the following compression stroke of the piston the solvent will be compressed into the pores of the solid carbon deposits at the ignition end of the cylinder.

\Vhen the coal oil or other solvent has thus been allowed to flow into the cylinders of the running engine while the ignition is on, the engine will choke down; and the attendant may then know that the mistladen air is being compressed into all the pores of the carbon deposits; and is being absorbed thereby, thus softening the same and fitting it to be burnt out. Then by opening up the throttle and thus giving more air to the charge the engine will again begin firing and the saturated and softened deposits will then 'combust and pass off in gaseous form through the usual exhaust port of the engine.

The nozzle is fixed to the manifold in Fig. 4: by a collar 33 having a flan e 34 sweated onto the manifold, the collar fitting the nozzle cylinder 32 which is formed with a taper bead 35 seated in the endof the collar 33 which isconformed to the bead and is externally threaded to receive the coupling 36 that holds the nozzle seated. By this arrangement the nozzle may be easily removed from the collar for any required purpose, and may be again inserted into the collar to cause the perforated conical spraying tipgto project into the manifold to deliver the solvent into the air current therein.

It is necessary that the solvent shall not be applied to the carbureter because the solvent is too heavy for ordinary use as a supply of hydrocarbon for the carbureter and the mist of solvent is added to the carbureted air from the carbureter which dur ing the entire operation may act in the usual. way so that when the solvent valve 15 is closed, the proper mixture from the carbureter will continue to be supplied and the engine will operate as before except with increasedefficiency. 4

I claim 2-- 1. The combination'with independent valve-operating levers mounted on the frame in position to be controlled by the operator from a single station, a decarbonizer container mounted on the frame, an internal combustion engine mounted on the frame, a fuel supply pipe for said-engine, a carbureter to supply fluid fuel to the engine through said pipe, a throttle valve to control'the opening through the pipe, a spray nozzle mounted in the supply pipe between the carbureter and the engine, a decarbonizing conducting pipe between the container and the spray nozzle, an automatically closing valve between the decarbonizer conducting pipe and the spray nozzle, means between the automatically closing valve and one of the levers for temporarily opening the valve between the decarbonizer conducting pipe and the spray nozzle when said lever is actuated, and means between the throttle valve and the other lever whereby the operation of the other lever will open the throttle valve.

2. The method set forth of maintaining internal combustiou driven auto-vehicles in good working condition which consists in suddenly and forcibly saturating with a combustible carbon solvent in the internal combustion chambers of such vehicle, the solid carbon deposits that may occur from time to time therein, by compressing into the pores of such deposits the combustible solvent and then supplying air and burning out the solvent and carbon substantially and for the purpose set forth.

3. The method set forth of maintaining an internal combustion engine in good Working condition, which consists in suddenly saturating with a combustible solvent such solid carbon deposits as may occur from time to timein the combustion cylinder of the engine by compressing into the ignition end of such cylinder air heavily charged with the solvent and then suddenly supplying a charge of carbureted air comparatlvely poor in carbon; and igniting the carbureted air.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand at Los Angeles, California, this 18th day of February, 1911.

, SAMUEL P. THOMPSON.

Inpresence of JAMES R. TOWNSEND, L. BELLE RICE.

a frame, of two 

